Bursts is coming alive four years later (ow.ly/o7Wfy). Scary but - TopicsExpress



          

Bursts is coming alive four years later (ow.ly/o7Wfy). Scary but true (Ch23): In its beta status, LifeLine’s Web portal carried no icon, brand name, or logo. Only an elegant white search box radiated on a black background, which brought to mind a subtle combination of Google’s uncluttered interface and AC/DC’s sleek Back in Black album cover. I typed my last name into the search box, hit ENTER, and watched a short list pop up on the screen. There were only two names: Albert-László Barabási, Brookline, MA Dániel Levente Barabási, Wappingers Falls, NY I clicked on my name and was presented with a familiar portrait, the one of me in my blue shirt, which was accompanied by some basic biographical information, a recognizable Wikipedia rip-off. The rest of the page was filled with dates and links to addresses corresponding to several resonantly familiar locations. The link I clicked on had a recent time stamp accompanied by a Massachusetts Avenue address in Boston. A video appeared on the screen showing a hurried crowd quickly swallowed by the black doors of the Hynes metro station. About two seconds into the movie I noticed myself, pushing open the station’s heavy door. Then I took a left on Massachusetts Avenue and, oblivious to the camera, walked out of its view. The next link, time stamped only ten seconds later, returned a photograph of five grinning youngsters posing on the bridge above the Massachusetts Turnpike. At first I recognized no one. But I soon realized that the kids were not the reason the image was placed on my site—the slightly blurred individual in the background was me, captured serendipitously soon after I left the metro station. I next clicked on a video, a still shot of a short segment of Massachusetts Avenue. This time I entered the camera’s view from the left, walked by the Berklee School of Music, and disappeared from view moments later, just before the imposing Christian Science World Headquarters. Watching videos of myself...
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 01:35:57 +0000

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